China becomes fifth country to acquire deep-diving technology

China erected a flag on the seabed of the South China Sea at a depth of nearly 4000 meters, although it is not stated where exactly the flag-planting took place

From : China Daily & Shangaiist

A domestic submersible has reached a depth of 3,759 meters, making China the fifth country in the world to acquire deep-diving technology surpassing the 3,500-meter mark, authorities said on Thursday.

The Chinese submersible Jiaolong, which is 8.2 meters long and weighs nearly 22 tons, was designed to reach a depth of 7,000 meters and operate in most of the world's oceans, officials said.

Jiaolong is considered to be the world's only deep-sea vessel that can theoretically reach those depths. Japan's Shinkai 6500 has a depth capability of 6,500 meters. The other three countries with deep-diving technology are the US, France and Russia.

A submersible differs from a submarine as it typically depends on another vessel or facility for support.

Jiaolong, with a crew of three, dived 17 times from May 31 to July 18 in the South China Sea, going below 3,000 meters four times. The deepest it reached was 3,759 meters. It operated at a peak duration of nine hours and three minutes and sent back videos and photos of the seabed.

In an experiment when it landed on the seafloor, it placed the Chinese flag and a sign depicting the legendary dragon's palace onto the seabed with a robotic arm.

"The successful diving trials of Jiaolong marked a milestone in our country's deepwater equipment and technology development," said Wang Weizhong, vice-minister of science and technology.

China started to develop the submersible in 2002. Work on the deep-sea vessel and its mother ship were completed after six years and involved about 100 institutions and companies nationwide.

"During the design and building stage, we overcame many technical difficulties such as pressure resistance, auto-control systems and battery capacity," Wang Fei, deputy chief of the State Oceanic Administration, said while introducing the submersible.

Jiaolong started its diving trials in August last year by going through depth stages.

"From last year's 50 meters, 300 meters and 1,000 meters to this year's depth of more than 3,700 meters, it is a great achievement. Such a depth means that Chinese scientists are able to conduct research in the deep. It also marks China becoming one of the few countries that possess manned deep-diving technology," said Liu Feng, chief director of the diving trials.

Lack of experience was the biggest difficulty faced in the trials, Liu said, adding that severe weather such as typhoons and storms also hampered efforts.

"We did pressure tests that simulated the environment at 7,000 meters underwater. That depth is our target. We will keep on trying deeper depths and finally reach the 7,000-meter goal," Liu said.

Ye Cong, one of the hydronauts on board Jiaolong, said he could sit in the vessel while the other two crew members could only stoop in the cabin. "The air pressure in the cabin is the same as it is on the surface. I felt excited and nervous every time I went deep underwater," Ye said. Ye said the team had just successfully completed the diving trials and it still had a long way to go before the submersible was applied to scientific research.

China's submersible development is aimed at scientific research to help with the peaceful exploration and utilization of natural resources, officials said. Jiaolong's main missions include physical, chemical and biological research, as well as exploration and deep-sea salvage, officials said.

It's summertime, and the world's navies have been cruising each other in the warm waters of the world's oceans as if it were some kind of brawny maritime love parade. Indeed, there has been a flurry of naval action in the Asian theatre recently - some of it routine and annual, some related to the Cheonan incident, but also chest thumping and jostling for position in territorial claims all over the place.

If there's any nation that's been "showing some sack" recently, it's China. With rumors swirling about its grandiose naval ambitions - to draw a "string of pearls" across the Indian Ocean, dominate the western Pacific, expand influence across Oceania, just to name a few - China's neighbors have evidently become a bit bothered. However, most contentious of all is China's extraordinary claim to 80% of the South China Sea, a territorial matter which according to some reports, Beijing considers a "core national interest" - on par with Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang.

The escalation of the South China Seas issue was widely reported after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's July 23 remarks at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Hanoi, where she called for a multilateral settlement of the many conflicting claims over control of the South China Sea and its riches in accordance with UNCLOS. Clinton's statement served to bolster the positions of smaller nations and was viewed by Beijing as a "sneak attack" on very this very sensitive area

Now, we all remember when the Russian Federation planted a flag on the bottom of the Arctic Ocean to assert its claim over that territory.

While that is still a matter of dispute, if the Chinese get the South China Sea and the Russians get the Arctic Ocean, does this mean the United States owns the moon?

Links :

• Cam11 : China-made manned submersible reached 3,759 meters beneath waves
  

New microbe discovered eating oil spill in Gulf

Bioremediation: Hope / Hype for Environmental Cleanup

From Randolph E. Schmid, AP Science Writer

A newly discovered type of oil-eating microbe is suddenly flourishing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Scientists discovered the new microbe while studying the underwater dispersion of millions of gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf following the explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.

And the microbe works without significantly depleting oxygen in the water, researchers led by Terry Hazen at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., reported Tuesday in the online journal Sciencexpress.

"Our findings, which provide the first data ever on microbial activity from a deepwater dispersed oil plume, suggest" a great potential for bacteria to help dispose of oil plumes in the deep-sea, Hazen said in a statement.

Environmentalists have raised concerns about the giant oil spill and the underwater plume of dispersed oil, particularly its potential effects on sea life.
A report just last week described a 22-mile long underwater mist of tiny oil droplets.
"Our findings show that the influx of oil profoundly altered the microbial community by significantly stimulating deep-sea" cold temperature bacteria that are closely related to known petroleum-degrading microbes, Hazen reported.

Their findings are based on more than 200 samples collected from 17 deepwater sites between May 25 and June 2. They found that the dominant microbe in the oil plume is a new species, closely related to members of Oceanospirillales.

This microbe thrives in cold water, with temperatures in the deep recorded at 5 degrees Celsius (41 Fahrenheit).
Hazen suggested that the bacteria may have adapted over time due to periodic leaks and natural seeps of oil in the Gulf.

Scientists also had been concerned that oil-eating activity by microbes would consume large amounts of oxygen in the water, creating a "dead zone" dangerous to other life.
But the new study found that oxygen saturation outside the oil plume was 67-percent while within the plume it was 59-percent.

The research was supported by an existing grant with the Energy Biosciences Institute, a partnership led by the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Illinois that is funded by a $500 million, 10-year grant from BP.
Other support came from the U.S. Department of Energy and the University of Oklahoma Research Foundation.

Links :

• Wired : Oil-gobbling bug discovery raises Gulf hopes — for now
• TheBayCitizen: Deepwater Horizon spill detergents could make bad situation worse
  

Sea Shepherd confirms the non-existence of Pingvin Island

Pingvin Island on chart AUS452 Australian Antarctic Territory
Cape Rundingen to Cape Filchner overlayed on satellite imagery

From Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

While the Japanese whaling fleet pretends to be doing research, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society indulged in a little research of our own today.

We noticed that we would be sailing past the position of an island marked on nautical charts with the notation that there was a lack of confirmation on the existence of the island. Coincidently the path the fleeing Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru took the Sea Shepherd ships, Steve Irwin and Bob Barker, was a course directly to that position where the island is supposed to exist.
The island would be within Australian Antarctic Territorial waters if confirmed.

Pingvin Island appears on the Australian nautical chart #452 (Cape Rundingen to Cape Filhner). According to the chart, Pingvin Island is three miles long (as measured on the chart) and is situated at 65 Degrees 47 Minutes South and 81 Degrees 55 Minutes East.
The chart depicts the island with an “unconfirmed” status.
We can now say with 100% accuracy that the island depicted on the chart does not exist at the location indicated on the chart.
The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin passed right over top of the location without any noticeable readings on the depth sounder indicating a sunken island or a seamount.

The British Antarctic pilot book has the island situated in a slightly different location a few miles away at 65 Degrees 45 Minutes South and 81 Degrees and 48 Minutes East.
We can now say with 100% accuracy that Pingvin Island does not exist at the location stated in the Australian Antarctic Pilot book.
The island does not appear on U.S. Nautical charts (NGA).

Pingvin Island is depicted on :

• Australian Chart #452 (Cape Rundinggen to Cape Filhner)
• Australian Chart #4074 (Cape Darnley to Tasmania)
• International Chart #72 (Cape Darnley to Tasmania) --> correction INT#74
  

There are numerous icebergs in the area, and none of which can be mistaken for an island.
The Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker did a radar, depth sounder, and visual survey at 1200 Hours on Sunday, February 21st, 2010.
Photographs were taken with a GPS in the picture of the location indicated on the chart.

Dr. Bonny Schumaker, on the Bob Barker, confirmed the observations of Captain Paul Watson and 1st Officer Lockhart MacLean on the Steve Irwin.

Notes from the Bob Barker from observations by Dr. Bonny Schumaker:

According to our chart on the Bob Barker (AUS452, INT903), Pingvin Island is centered on about 65deg 48'S, 081deg51'E.

--> Position on the Marine GeoGarage (65°47.5'S/81°55'E)

At 1215 (UTC+0800) today, 2010 Feb 21, we passed an iceberg at 65deg 46'S, & 081deg 51.9'E, a position approximately 1.2 nm NW of where the chart indicates Pingvin Island, and at that time we saw nothing else in the vicinity except for this iceberg.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has informed the Australian Hydrographic Service of the observation.

One explanation could be the Antarctic sea ice has expanded over the past 30 years.
(see Links below)

Links :

• MySailing : All you've ever wanted to ask the Australian Hydrographic Service
• National Geographic : Why Antarctic sea ice is growing in a warmer world
• Wired : Global warming protects Antarctic sea ice — But not for long
  

Australia, a new chart layer in the Marine GeoGarage

AHS (Australian Hydrographic Service) gives us its agreement (license no 2829SL) to display their nautical raster charts (a set of 437 charts -725 including sub-charts-) in the Marine GeoGarage.

Some charts (21 charts originally in Clarke 1858 datum) have not been included in the Marine GeoGarage because no rigourous transformation between Clarke 1858 to WGS84 datum is possible.

Note : other charts (for example 38 charts in Australian Geodetic 1966 datum) have been transformed to match Google Maps viewer datum.

So Marine GeoGarage is able right now to display 3411 charts coming from 7 international Hydrographic Services.

--- END-USER RESPONSIBILITY ----------------------Certain material in this product is reproduced under license by permission of The Australian Hydrographic Service.
©Commonwealth of Australia 2010. All rights reserved.
This information may not be copied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any medium or machine readable form, in whole or part, without the prior written consent of the Australian Hydrographic Service.

Mariners should keep Australian nautical charts up-to-date by consulting the Notices to Mariners.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So with the Premium Chart subscription (9.9 € / month), you have access today to :
UKHO, SHN, CHS & AHS nautical charts private layers.

 James Cook's Map of the East Coast of "New South Wales", 1770

Freycinet Map of 1811 – The first full map of Australia to be published

Divers swim and play with white beluga whales under the Arctic ice in the White Sea, Russia

A diver gets up close with two white beluga whales under the ice in the White Sea, Russia.
The two grab the diver's arms and appear to be helping him swim (other pictures)

From TheTelegraph

These wild whales are not yet on the endangered list, but are considered to be under threat from pollution and loss of habitat.

Pictured here at a special whale sanctuary designed and built by Marine Biologists from St Petersburg University in 2006, the beluga is thriving.

The "natural farm" acts as a nursery for breeding whales, as well as acting as a rehabilitation centre for former performing animals before they are set into the wild.

The natural bay under the ice means that the whales are protected from the strong currents of the wider ocean and left to breed in peace, while also leaving them free to roam as they wish.
Occasionally, guests at the local dive centre can swim with the whales, and get close enough to touch.

Franco Banfi, an Arctic diver and photographer, who took the pictures, said: “When a whale comes up to us and swims by, it looks you right in the eyes. Obviously we don’t know what they think, but they are very curious creatures.
“Sometimes, I'm sure they're trying to figure out what we are and where we came from.
“As a photographer, I’ve always been driven to bring photographs of animals one hardly ever sees to a printed page."

But while the beluga, or white whale, is built for these harsh surroundings, the diving team face extremely tough conditions to get close to the gentle creatures.
Before each dive the team have to create holes in the three-foot-deep ice using a hand saw, just to get through to the sea below.
Once they’re in they have to swim around in heavy layers of clothes in the -10°C waters.
But the short straw is for the volunteer who gets to stay above ground in -30°C winds, making sure the ice hole doesn’t freeze over and trap the group.

“Photographing a story in very cold water can turn into a logistical nightmare, “ says Mr Banfi, 58.
“But, if we are well trained, the underwater part of things is not really as harsh as you might think."
"When we come out on land, temperatures can get down to – 10°C or -20°C and things will instantly freeze, so we can barely move.
“Cold itself will not hurt the equipment, but it may slow down some of its functions as well as our own.
“Because of the ice-layer and snow cover, there is not sufficient light to shoot with ambient light and batteries lose their charge more quickly in cold weather.”

Mr Banfi said he was keen to show the beauty of the undersea world to those who can’t face the icy deep themselves.
“As photographer, I’ve always been driven to bring photographs of animals one hardly ever sees," he said.
"I want to see these amazing animals in a way that only a few people have seen and I want to share it with others.”